DHEC to cut upper management jobs in restructuring

Saturday

Jan 12, 2013 at 9:30 PM

Several health leaders who serve Spartanburg County will be removed from their jobs March 1.

By DUSTIN WYATTdustin.wyatt@shj.com

Several health leaders who serve Spartanburg County will be removed from their jobs March 1.The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control announced plans to restructure the organization earlier this week, touting it as a way to make its services more efficient across the state. But this change will come at the expense of the jobs of some 45 upper-management employees throughout the state. Department director Catherine Templeton said in an email that the organization has been running a $5 million deficit in administration for years. She said the layoffs of upper management could save money, while getting rid of "unnecessary positions." She said while people will lose jobs, DHEC will fill 68 new positions on the front line; laid-off employees can reapply for jobs in these lower positions."We have this really heavy upper-management group and not enough nurses," Templeton said in a phone interview. "What we are doing here is trying to right the ship and put a good, consistent framework into place throughout the state where we aren't losing any expertise, we aren't losing any medical doctors, we aren't losing any restaurant administrators. We are eliminating some of our numbers only in administration and then hiring back more employees than we got rid of."It's about "increasing boots on the ground," said Mark Plowden, DHEC spokesperson, "while removing inefficient layers of bureaucracy."There currently are eight DHEC regions throughout the state, with Region II representing areas of the Upstate — Union, Cherokee, Spartanburg, Greenville and Pickens counties. By March, as part of this reorganization, there will be four regions. Region II will merge with Region I, forming the Upstate Region, which will include Greenwood, McCormick, Abbeville, Anderson and Oconee counties.No services will be affected by the change, no locations are being shut down, and employees won't have to cover a larger area, Templeton said."For instance, if you have a nurse who is in Region II, she is not going to be covering Regions I and II, she will still cover the geography of Region II. But there's no reason for us to have two health managers within 30 minutes of each other."Templeton says she's excited about the reorganization. But some local organizations, which have formed close ties with the local DHEC branch over the years, are concerned how the shakeup will affect partnerships moving forward. Molly Talbot-Metz, director of programs and interim president of the Mary Black Foundation, touts the work that current members of upper management have done over the years."I sincerely hope these changes don't negatively impact the progress that is being made to improve health and wellness in Spartanburg County," she said.Tracey Jackson, executive director of Piedmont Care, a nonprofit that provides HIV and AIDS care, prevention and advocacy in Spartanburg, said she was stunned to hear of the layoffs."Restructuring on this scale always causes uncertainty for partners and employees alike," she said.But Templeton said local health organizations should set their worries aside.Even with the layoffs of upper management, "these partnerships are not going to change," she said. Those laid off in March can reapply for a different job on a lower level, and Templeton expects that many will."I think (organizations) will find that some of the same people who have been there will still be there in a different capacity" come March, she said.